The protest by family members of transporter Prakash Pandey who had committed suicide, ended here on Tuesday after the leader of opposition and Haldwani MlA Indira Hridayesh presented Rs 7.25 lakh financial assistance to the family. The sum was donated by social workers and members of the business fraternity to assist the Pandey family.
The Pandey family had been protesting here for five days now, demanding action on the assurance given earlier by the authorities of providing financial assistance and a government job to Pandey’s widow. On Tuesday, Hridayesh reached the protest site and presented the Rs 7.25 lakh collected in donations to Pandey’s widow Kamala Pandey while stating that the remaining amount will be provided to the family in the near future. She also assured facilitation of a job to one of the family members and requested them to end their protest.
Thanking all those who had come forward to assist them, members of the Pandey family ended their protest demonstration. Expressing her views on the occasion, Hridayesh said that first giving assurance and then going back on it had exposed the insensitivity of the state government. The court of law will be approached and an answer will be sought from the authorities in this case, she added.
It is pertinent to mention here that transporter Prakash Pandey had died on January 9, a couple of days after consuming poison and attending the Janata Milan programme chaired by a cabinet minister at the Bharatiya Janata Party state head office in Dehradun. The death had also caused some political discomfiture to the BJP as Pandey had blamed demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax for his financial troubles.
When his body was brought for cremation to his hometown, his family members refused to conduct the last rites initially. Then, in front of the Haldwani MlA and Haldwani Mayor, the Nainital district magistrate had talked to higher officials and assured the bereaved family of Rs 12 lakh financial assistance and a Government job for Pandey’s widow.
The family members then conducted the cremation. However, after some days, the Chief Minister clarified that the Government would not provide any financial or other assistance to the Pandey family as there is no provision for such assistance to the family members of those who commit suicide.
Accusing the government of not fulfilling its assurance, the Pandey family had been demonstrating since February 15.